


Baby We Were Born to Run

by RoseMCGardner03



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: 20th Century, Alternate Universe - 1950s, Alternate Universe - 1960s, F/F, Historical References, Inspired by The Outsiders, and Bruce Springsteen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-23 11:25:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18151232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseMCGardner03/pseuds/RoseMCGardner03
Summary: The year is 1968. Ten years ago in the year 1958, the Supreme Court in One, Inc. vs Olsen deemed the homosexual magazine to not per se be obscene. In the next ten years during the year 1978, gay rights activist Harvey Milk will be assassinated. In a small town near Mount Weather, Virginia, Clarke Griffin and Lexa Woods lead two very different lives. The only thing they had in common at first was that they were both gay... For each other. Together, the two girls struggle with class division, societies views of homosexulaity and their own views of what they feel for one another during a time when the LGBTQ community started to strongly advocate for their rights in the United States.





	1. A Well Respected Man and a Hungry Heart

The year is 1968. Americans have begun to withdraw support from the Vietnam War, Apollo 8 orbited the moon, and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated that April in Tennessee. Jake Griffin has been working as the legislative director for Senator Kane, an old friend from college, for the past six years.

In such a chaotic time, especially revolving politics, Jake Griffin lives a life with as much structure as possible. Every weekday, Jake leaves his colonial brick house on Arkadia Avenue and takes the train to Union Station by 7 AM. From Massachusetts Avenue, Jake walks to First Street, on the southeast side of Washington DC so he can make it to his office on Capitol Hill by 9 AM. He does not leave Capitol Hill until 6 PM to take the train from Union Station back to the small town near Mount Weather.

On Saturdays, he sleeps in no later than 9:30 and then spends the day with either his wife, his daughter, or even alone, recuperating after a strenuous week at the office. On Sundays, his family always attends 9 o’clock mass before eating brunch at The Dropship, a diner on Jaha’s Street.

In the early 20thcentury, there were only two chapels in the small town near Mount Weather. Residents from the east side of town, the east side of Lincoln Ave, would attend the chapel on the corner of Arkadia Avenue and 100 Boulevard while residents from the west side of town, or the west side of Lincoln Ave, attended mass at a chapel on Polis Avenue and Jaha’s side of 100 Boulevard.

Reverend Thelonious Jaha is an African-American whose family has been in the small town near Mount Weather for several generations. He was a leader in the eyes of most citizens who lived in Westside and when the chapel on Polis was abandoned and closed without the help of the mayor to rebuildl the dilapidated building, Reverend Jaha lead members of his congregation to the church near Arkadia and demanded they be allowed to join the community.

It was most likely that his son Wells will study to become a minister after he graduates high school but for now, the young man works at the Dropship on Jaha’s street, the northwest side of 100 Boulevard. After mass the Griffin family crosses Lincoln Avenue before entering the diner and finding a booth. Groups of Eastside and Westside kids from the high school come to eat and converse before going home to complete homework or hear Reverend Jaha preach during the afternoon mass.

On that particular Sunday, as the Griffin family enjoys their brunch at the diner, Jake notices his daughter Clarke glancing at a girl her age. The girl she is staring at is sitting at the counter with a group of friends. Judging from her appearance, the tall, thin girl was obviously from the west side of town with her intimidating and rough looking appearance. She was wearing a leather jacket too.

Jake hates the leather jackets those kids wear these days.

Anyway, on that particular Sunday, Jake observed as his daughter subtly glances at the Westside girl from across the diner and eventually watches her get up to garner the attention from the group of Westside kids. While all this is occurring, Abby tiredly looks over the menu either obliviously or intentionally ignoring the sight in front of her. Clarke comes back to the table after five minutes, the girl she was talking to at the counter eyeing their interaction from her still at the counter.

“Clarke,” Jake states as his daughter walks back to their booth, “Who is that girl?”

“Lexa Woods.”

“Lexa Woods?” Jake’s eyes widen from shock while Clarke nods her head, confused by Jake’s reaction.

Lexa Woods.

An epiphany strikes Jake as he hears that name. 

His mind flashes back to the year 1958. The Vietnam conflict had begun three years prior, President Eisenhower created NASA to further the US in the Space Race, and the Supreme Court favored One Magazine in the court case One, Inc. vs. Olsen.

Jake Griffin has been a husband and father for over five years at this point. By now, Abby and him have settled into a colonial brick house on Arkadia Avenue. Jake was an attorney at a firm near Georgetown and found himself in Alexandria, Virginia for a business meeting one Friday night in August. He was at a tavern in Old Town, enjoying a celebratory drink after his client and partners left when he met a peculiar man a few years Jake’s junior.

Jake no longer remembers the man’s name but he still remembers his story. With a glass of bourbon from the good state of Kentucky, this young and unprepared father told Jake that he had stolen a car and left his wife and two children in their house on the edge of a small town east of the city.  He had no longer loved his wife, who he met and fell in love with during the summer of 1951.

“I met her here, y’know. Right here in Alexandria, Virginia.”

“How old were you?” Jake remembers questioning.

They were simply conversing earlier but now that the peculiar man has bought his third drink, he is beginning to confess his troubles. Jake notices how his posture loosens into the cushioned seat and his shoulders sag towards the counter at the tavern.

“I was twenty-two when I met Becca,” he had a faint southern accent, “Married her after a couple months and then our daughter was born on my twenty-third birthday. Named her after the city.”

“Alexandria?”

“Yessir. Alexandria Virginia Woods’ her name.”

Jake nods his head before taking a sip from his bottle.

“She’s bout six-years-old now. Turned six last week. I bought her a necklace, a nice necklace from downtown.”

Jake turns to look at the young southern man next to him. He was freshly twenty-nine, with thick brown hair, tan skin, hunched over shoulders and dark bags under his eyes. He was obviously tired, immature and ashamed. If it were another man at another time Jake would not have stopped himself from scolding them. How could someone leave their family like that? However, Jake didn’t feel like verbally attacking the guy next to him that night, it was obvious the man seemed to know how immature and shameful he was already.

“I have another kid too y’know. A two year old son.”

“And you’re leaving him too,” Jake states, his disappointment clearly evident in his tone.

“I can’t stay in that damn small town any longer.” The peculiar man replies.

“I’m married to a woman I don’t love, stuck in a town I don’t like and dealing with shit I don’t want to deal with,” He complained, mournfully staring into his glass of hard liquor.

“But what about your kids?” Jake insists.

“I’ll come back,” the man nods to himself, “I’ll come back to see ‘em.”

Jake nods and takes a sip from his bottle before standing up to leave.  He takes out five dollars and puts it on the counter. That should be enough to satisfy the peculiar man another drink or two.

“Hey! Where’re you off too?” The man calls after him.

“Home,” Jake says to him, “I have a family waiting for me.”

With that, Jake travels back home to the colonial brick house on Arkadia Avenue to kiss his daughter’s forehead as she sleeps and then to crawl into bed with his wife.  He was unable to fall asleep until reciting a prayer for six-years-old Alexandria Virginia Woods and her two-year-old brother because Jake knew it was highly unlikely they would ever see their dad again. 

Jake is brought back to reality when Abby jabs his side from where she is sitting. Jake directs his eyes at Alexandria Virginia Woods presumably at sixteen years old.

From what Jake can notice from her rough exterior and guarded facial expression, her father never came back.

“Daddy, is it ok if I go with Lexa to see Reverend Jaha?”

Jake nods his head instinctively, to engrossed in the past to be as interactive as usually is.  Clarke gives a polite smile and tells both Abby and Jake she will be back by four that afternoon. After that, she leaves the diner with Lexa in tow. 

As Jake watches them through the front window he is clueless to the glare Abby has directed to his back. 

“Jacob.”

“Yes, Abigail?”

“Do you even know who that girl is?”

“Lexa Woods. Why?”

“Why? You just let our daughter go off with some random Westside girl!”

“Darling, she is not just some random girl and you could have told Clarke ’no’ yourself y’know,” Jake argues.

“Then who is she Jake?”

“Alexandria Virginia Woods.” 

All of sudden, an epiphany hit Abby Griffin too. She remembers that Saturday morning the day after Jake came back from Old Town, Alexandria. It was ten years ago, when a man left his family a week after his daughter’s sixth birthday. 

“Alexandria Virginia Woods,” Abby states.

“Yup,” Jake hums, “That’s her.”


	2. Growin' Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa Woods looks back on the early stages of her and Clarke's overall relationship with each other.

Unknown to most people in the small town near Mount Weather, Lexa Woods has known Clarke Griffin for a very long time. 

The year is 1963, President John F. Kennedy is assassinated that November down in Dallas, and Lexa is eleven years old. Besides the Cubans, and the Russians, and her neighbor Titus who lives across the street complaining about the Democrats, Lexa did not remember much about Kennedy’s presidency.  
However, she did remember reading the newspaper on the 23rd, the day after the his death, and then watching Lee Harvey Oswald die on live television the day after that, and she even remembers her Mama taking her and Aden to the Jaha’s house to watch the funeral after 7:30 Mass that morning. The Jaha’s lived down on the Northwest side of Lincoln Ave and one of the only families on that side of town with a quality television. Reverend Jaha was nice enough to invite anyone who wanted to watch the ceremony into his home after mass.

Her mama had always loved Jackie, for multiple reasons Lexa wouldn’t discover until years later. During the funeral, Lexa was sure that the only one her mama was crying for was Jackie Kennedy. The First Lady was husbandless, just like her. 

By then, Clarke’s daddy, one of the most well respected men in town, was working in Washington. He had taken his wife Abby and his eleven-year-old daughter to the funeral in D.C. Lexa remembers Clarke going to the funeral because Mr. Griffin took his family to 7:30 Mass before taking the train to the capitol. 

Lexa’s family never went to church regularly. Sometimes Lexa would take Aden with her when they were both up early or sometimes Mama would take them when she was thinking. That time, Mama took them so they could go to the Reverend’s house after. However, Clarke and her parents always went to church on Sundays, no matter what. Mr. Griffin evidently decided to take his family to the 7:30 Mass that Sunday so they could take the train into Washington for the funeral. 

That’s how Lexa met Clarke. Their pews were in the same row the morning of President John F. Kennedy’s funeral. 

Lexa always had mixed feelings concerning religion and back when she was eleven-years-old she would get bored easily even if Father Jaha was the one speaking. Clarke usually was engaged in mass because it was a part of her weekly routine. However, when Lexa had excused herself to use the restroom from the pew across from the Griffin’s, Clarke had shyly followed her down the aisle. 

Lexa’s hair was naturally curly; she wouldn’t start straightening it until high school and Clarke remembers enjoying how the older girl’s curls would bounce as she walked. Lexa wore a cheap black cotton dress that morning with no tights because she didn’t own a pair without rips. Clarke had been dressed in a pristine black coat with her light blonde hair held back by a black bow that day. When Lexa had turned from her reflection in the bathroom mirror to see Clarke entering the women’s restroom, Lexa immediately thought she was the prettiest Eastside girl she’s ever seen.

“Hello.” Clarke greeted her shyly. 

“Mornin’.” Lexa nodded. 

There a long pause of silence as Clarke distracted herself with assessing her appearance in the mirror while Lexa observed her.  
“Aren’t you Mr. Griffin’s kid?” Clarke simply nodded as she faced Lexa once again. 

“Then why’re you at church so early.” Lexa had never seen Clarke in mass before. 

Reverend Jaha preached at different times to accommodate the white minister, which meant Westside folk either attended mass at 7:30 in the morning or 12 o’clock in the afternoon while Eastside families attended mass at 9:30. Titus always attended 7:30 mass and would take Lexa with him so they could go to church and then get food at the Dropship afterwards. 

“Daddy is taking Mommy and I to the capitol for President Kennedy’s funeral. We leave after communion.” Clarke explained. 

“Sounds fun.” Lexa shrugged. 

There was an awkward pause. 

“Fun?” Clarke question skeptically and Lexa blushed, realizing her mistake. 

“I… I didn’t mean it like that y’know.” 

“Well then, what did you mean?” 

“You’re going into the city,” Lexa shrugs, “I’ve never been to D.C before. I reckon it’s a fun place to be.” 

“Not for a funeral.” 

“No, not for a funeral. I'm sorry.” 

There was another moment of silence and Lexa was so uncomfortable with the awkward situation and mildly embarrassed by her previous response that she had left Clarke in the women’s restroom and made her way to her pew to sit next to her baby brother. Until the end of church that day, Lexa thought she had ruined the one chance of making friends outside of Potomac Elementary. 

After Brown vs. The Board of Education in 1954, the Eastside and Westside kids went to separate elementary schools. Specifically, the Eastside kids went to Jefferson Elementary while the Westside kids went to Potomac Elementary close to Mount Weather. Due to the division, it was a rare occurrence for a kid like Lexa to see a kid like Clarke. Clarke lived downtown in a large colonial brick house on Arkadia Avenue, a couple doors down from the town hall, while Lexa lived in a small house with chipping white paint between the edge of town and the woods. 

Her location was fitting for a last name like hers. 

Potomac Elementary School was past Polis Street and in the rural land surrounding downtown. Freight trains could be heard chugging on the tracks throughout the day and the paved roads were filled with potholes and gravel. Lexa lived in the rural land surrounding downtown meaning she biked to school. Mama only drove her 1954 Mercury Monterey when they needed to go downtown for something, which is rare. Apparently, the car was a gift from her father back when her parents were still in love but Lexa and her mama try not to think about the peculiar man too much. 

Speaking of cars, Lexa remembers Mr. Griffin driving the new Ford Mustang that fall of 1963. After Clarke received communion she had tuned to face Lexa who was still waiting to receive the Eucharist. 

“Goodbye,” Clarke had shyly waved before running off to find her parents outside. 

“Goodbye,” Lexa had muttered. 

She was dazed by the others girl’s mere presence for a moment before regaining her senses and following the Eastside girl out of the church. She had watched Clarke get in the back seat of the Ford, watched Mr. Griffin put the key into the ignition and watched Clarke speed off in the blue convertible, her cornflower blue eyes locked on Lexa’s forest green orbs as she rode off to the capitol. 

While a minimal amount of words were spoken between the two that day, Lexa considered Clarke pretty and nice, therefore, special. Almost every other Sunday, Lexa made an effort to travel into town for mass to see her new friend, but since Reverend Jaha preached at different times to accommodate the white minister, and Lexa didn’t want to attend mass twice in one day, Titus would drop her off before entering the chapel and Lexa would attend 12 o’clock service after visiting Clarke. 

While Titus was occupied, Lexa would walk on the northwest side of Lincoln Avenue to visit one of her best friends. Lincoln, who ironically lived on Lincoln Avenue, was a year older than Lexa and a friend she has had since her first years at Potomac. By late 1963, it was a routine for Lexa to stop by his house every Sunday morning to either nap before going to meet Clarke or travel around town with him before mass. Indra, his mother, was a very intense and a gruff woman whose husband was off fighting in Vietnam. To many, it was hard to converse with a woman like Indra, but Lexa and Lincoln’s mother always had a good relationship. When Lexa’s mama was too busy drinking or working and occasionally taking care of Aden, Indra was there to watch over Lexa, something the young girl appreciated very much. 

Anyway, after resting for another hour or so, Lexa would leave Lincoln’s house and hide on the second floor balcony of the chapel. Clarke would look back at her, giggle, and then excuse herself from the pew and join Lexa in the restroom. Clarke was so used to the routine of mass that she knew exactly what time she needed to go and leave so she could receive the Eucharist. Her timing always provided Lexa and Clarke twenty minutes to giggle with each other and talk about their weeks before going their separate ways. 

Such as Clarke complaining about Jasper Jordan, “He’s just so annoying, Lexa. He flirts with any girl that’s his desk partner in Miss Lucy’s class.” 

Or Lexa talking about the trouble she got into, “On Tuesday, Ryder said I was weak, so I punched him in the face and his mama had to pick him up cuz his nose was bleeding.” 

“How moronic of him.”

However, as the years go by, Lexa and Clarke’s meeting in the church restroom eventually turned into meetings on Mount Weather or at Ark High school. By 1966, one of Lexa’s best friends and next-door neighbor, Anya, was able to drive. This meant that Anya was in charge of taking: Lexa, Aden, Lincoln, Luna, and the Queen kids to the drive-in movie on Saturday nights. Ontari and Luna would squish inside Anya’s Chevy truck while the other four had to brace themselves in the back. 

Dave’s drive-in, owned by Dave’s son Nathan, was past Polis and the part of town closest to Mount Weather. When the crew eventually made it to the drive-in, Aden would immediately run off with the little Westside kids, Ontari would find her friends, Lincoln and Roan would go buy food and drinks for Luna and Anya while Lexa ran off to find a spot on the slope of the mountain. Mount Weather was a government facility, part of the Blue Ridge Mountain Range, but that didn’t stop teenagers from finding a recess on the slope between the barbed wire of the government compound and the screen from Dave’s Drive-In. 

While Bellamy Blake went looking for girls by the concession stand and Octavia and Raven watched the movie, Clarke would whisk away to her and Lexa’s spot on Mount Weather. They would talk for the whole movie unbeknownst to Clarke’s friends, who thought she was off with Finn or Wells. 

“What’d ya think they’d say? If they knew a girl like you was hanging out with a girl like me?” 

Clarke was silent for a moment, brows furrowed as she contemplated Lexa’s question. They were sitting on a large rock, hidden from the official trail. The Drive-In was in front of them so Lexa and Clarke could watch the film while still privately conversing with each other. The movie tonight was West Side Story with Natalie Wood. 

“Raven wouldn’t mind. She doesn’t care about stuff like that. Octavia wouldn’t either. We both know she’s always looking at your friend Lincoln.” 

“And Bellamy?” 

Clarke chuckled, too old for giggling, “Bellamy would be so mad. He would be so angry I don’t think Octavia would even be able to calm him down.” 

“I don’t get why all the Eastside boys are like that.” Lexa scoffs. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Egotistical. Possessive. They hate us, Clarke. They hate us for no good reason, just because I’m dirt poor and live on the other side of town doesn’t mean I’m a bad person.” 

“Well it’s not like you and your boys beating the shit out of them helps,” Clarke scoffs. 

“It’s self-defense!” Lexa exclaims. 

Clarke simply shook her head and darkly chuckled. It was always a slippery slope when it came to the pair’s origins and personal experiences. Lexa loves Clarke - Costia is a different story - but Lexa knows that Clarke is one of her closest friends and because of their friendship Lexa is willing to look past Clarke’s different and classy lifestyle, a life with hardly any struggle. Clarke is willing to look past how Lexa lives too. She knows behind the dirt, sweat and snarl that Alexandria Virginia Woods was simply a kind young woman at heart. She’s known since she was eleven-years-old. They’re love for each other overpowers how they live their lives. 

“What about you?” Clarke questions. 

“What’d you mean?” 

“What would your friends say if they knew you were friends with a girl like me?” 

Lexa shrugs, “Aden wouldn’t mind. Lincoln wouldn’t either.” 

“That’s because Aden is your brother and Lincoln likes Octavia too.” Clarke argues. “What about Anya or Luna?” 

“They’d respect you as long as they know you care about me.” Lexa states. “As long as they know you care about me they ain’t gonna worry about me and you being friends.” 

“Good think I care about you then.” Clarke smiles. 

Lexa looks to her right to see her best friend smiling at her. She smiles back. On the screen, Tony is with Maria on her fire escape, devotedly singing to girl he claims to love. 

“Good thing I care about you too.” Lexa smiles back. 

As long as they care for each other, Lexa thinks she’ll survive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I try to make everything as historically accurate as possible but obviously that's not going to happen due to the fact that The 100 has cast of people that descend from multiple ethnicities. However, this story is obviously fiction so of course there will be parts when the story isn't completely accurate. Leave comments below. I appreciate feedback.

**Author's Note:**

> I will be jumping between different years so if you are reading this, I would advise you to research the events I listed after every year stated. It provides context about what time of the year it is and how the culture is evolving. Also, the chapter titles might be song references. If so, looking up the lyrics might also provide some insight.


End file.
